"While they have twice reached the final in the last twenty years, Bulgaria entered this tournament as outsiders, their team having narrowly scraped into the final sixteen."
-- Ludo Bagman in the Daily Prophet, 2 July 2014 (QWC)
The Bulgarian National Teams are from the European country of Bulgaria.
Quidditch
The Bulgaria Quidditch Team have played in the final of a Quidditch World Cup three times (QWC).
Quidditch World Cup 1994
The Bulgarian side lost to Ireland (by 170 points to Bulgaria’s 160) following an exciting and unusual Snitch capture by their Seeker Viktor Krum.
The members of the 1994 team were: Dimitrov, Ivanova and Levski (Chasers); Viktor Krum (Seeker); Volkov and Vulchanov (Beaters); and Zograf (Keeper) (GF8).
Quidditch World Cup 2002
The Bulgarian team were narrowly defeated in the final match, this time to the national side from Egypt (Egypt 450, Bulgaria 300).
Viktor Krum was again the Seeker for Bulgaria and, following this defeat, he announced his retirement (QWC).
Quidditch World Cup 2014
With Viktor Krum coming out of retirement as their Seeker, Bulgaria were tournament underdogs. Krum, who at the age of 38 during this Quidditch World Cup was considered to be a bit old to still be playing professionally, stated that he wanted to “win the World Cup before I die”.
Riding Firebolt Supreme brooms, they beat teams from New Zealand, Norway and Japan, and in the end, emerged victorious from a hard-fought final match against Brazil (Bulgaria 170, Brazil 60).
The members of the 2014 team were: Stoyanka Grozda, Bogomil Levski (whose father was in the 1994 team) and Nikola Vassileva (Chasers); Dimitar Draganov and Boris Vulchanov (whose father was also a member of the 1994 team) (Beaters); Viktor Krum (Seeker); and Georgi Zdravko (Keeper) (QWC).
Commentary
Notes
In a 2014 poll, the 1994 Bulgarian Beaters Volkov and Vulchanov were voted all-time best Beater duo - ahead of the popular 2014 Japanese team Beaters Shingo and Hongo (QWC), even though they were on the losing side at the World Cup.
Although Bulgaria has participated in three Quidditch World Cups, there are no Quidditch or other wizarding sports teams listed on its Wikipedia entry (Wikipedia).
Related images:
Lexicon timeline of Quidditch
Lexicon list of Quidditch World teams
From the Web
Writing by J K Rowling on WizardingWorld.com (Pottermore): The Daily Prophet
Writing by J K Rowling on Imgur (Daily Prophet coverage of the 2014 Quidditch World Cup, originally from Pottermore):
- History of the Quidditch World Cup
- Quidditch World Cup 1990-2014
- Match reports and articles from the 2014 Quidditch World Cup
WizardingWorld.com (Pottermore) feature: Quidditch Through the Ages
Harry Potter Wiki: Bulgarian National Quidditch Team
Pensieve (Comments)
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